Sunset Legend

• 25 •

My eyed fluttered open, instantly blinded by the sun that reflected off all the white. I went to roll over, but was stopped by the body laying next to me. I woke up real quick as I stared at the ghostly white arm that was wrapped over my stomach. It took my brain a minute to process it was Frosts who was wrapped over me and his legs through mine. I screamed, flinging his arm back over to his own body as I jumped out of the bed. Frosts sat up, blue eyes alert. Once he realized it was just me, a smirk played his lips.
"Morning, snowflake."
"You were cuddling me," I gagged.
He rolled his eyes. "Do I need to remind you I woke up in the middle of the night to find you wrapped around me? I knew you would come around to me." I ignored his wink, glaring at him with my arms crossed against my chest. His eyes roamed down, looking over my bare legs. I growled, ripping the blanket off the bed and wrapping it over my shoulders so nothing besides my head was shown.
"Oh my god!" I shrieked, turning around too fast in my blanket cocoon and tumbling into the wall. "When did you take your pants off?" I cried, pushing myself off the wall to stand tall again.
"You took the them off." I froze, my hand on the wall.
"WHAT?!"
Frosts laughed. Laughed. It was cracky, like he never laughed before.
For a second I almost felt bad about wanting to kill him. Almost.
"You are such an asshole," I mumbled, stomping out of the room with the blanket wrapped around me before he somehow made me rethink my plans.
I had absolutely no idea where I was going and for all I knew I was going in circles. I bumped into the back of something while staring down at my feet.
"Excuse me," I said, after seeing a flash of white hair.
I went to turn, to try another hall when his voice stopped me, "now that's a look." I could of palmed myself so hard in the forehead. I turned back around to face Jaxon, who was now dressed as Dash. His eyes roamed over the blanket as if he could see anything underneath of what might have happened last night. "I left after you fell asleep. Did anything happen?" He whispered, glancing around the empty hall.
I thought about the cuddling that apparently happened, deciding it was best to keep that information to myself.
"Actually, no." I could see the suspicion in his eyes, but he didn't have a chance to respond as the frozen devil himself joined us.
"Ah, Dash. Glad to see you're still here," he said, his voice letting us all know he was not in fact, glad. "Were you telling him about the amazing night we had, snowflake?" His cold lips pressed to the side of my head. I jerked my head away, swatting at the hand that tried to wrap around my waist.
"Remember, dungeon," I said, pointing a finger at him through the blanket.
"Look at us, inside jokes already," he said with a sly smirk. I wanted to point out I was not joking, but he continued talking before I could. "I have business to attend to. I will be back before lunch."
"What kind of business?" I watched the storms return to his blue eyes as he looked at me.
"I'm sure you'd rather not know."
"If I'm going to be stuck in this damn place with you, it's my business too," I demanded. Frosts turned to Jaxon, flicking his wrist at him like he was a peasant. I saw the twitch in his jaw before he stalked past us and out of sight.
"There is some rebels forming in my old lands, upset with my future status of King. I just have to handle it before it gets out of hand."
"By doing what?" I asked, cautious to his reactions.
"I'll just keep killing them until they decide to stop or they are all gone," he said with a shrug, like this was nothing more than a simple task of signing a piece of paper.
Any flicking of my decision from before halted as I began to see red. He was killing just to kill. He would stop at nothing to become king.
"You disgust me," I hissed, spinning to head down the hall.
"You make that very clear. Just remember the more you push me away the more I want youu!" He sang, his voice following me down the hall until I turned the corner.
The queen stood before me, dressed nothing less than perfect. Her face showed the disgust as she took in my blanket attire.
"Go change." Her words short with demand. Last night was not forgotten nor forgiven, I see.
"I have no idea where I'm going."
"Lila!" She whistled and just like a dog Lila appeared, wiping her hands on her dress. "Go get Solstice ready for today." Lila bowed before grabbing my arm even through the blanket and leading me back up to the room.
"Your hair is clean, yes?" Her voice was quiet. I could tell she didn't talk often. I nodded. She went over to the large closet on the right and began looking through the gowns. She held up a navy blue ball gown with diamonds studded in a weird pattern on the skirt.
"Is there anything other than a ballgown?" I asked, unfolding myself from the blanket cocoon.
"Prince Frosts only likes ballgowns," she answered.
"Does it look like I give a shit?" I snapped. She ignored me, setting the dress down on the bed and leaving for me to change.
A few minutes later I sat in the ballgown that made my white hair practically glow as she curled it. She kept glancing at me in the mirror, her mouth twitching like she was going to say something but never spoke.
I rolled my eyes so hard I gave myself a temporary headache as she set the diamond tiara back on my head.
"Now what?" I asked.
"You are free until lunch in three hours," she said then left the room.
"Free to do what? I got lost in the damn place," I mumbled.
"I have an idea," Jaxon said, sitting on the made bed in the middle of the room. I grabbed my chest as my heart beat too fast.
"I thought we were done with this," I gasped, catching my breath and turning to face him in my chair.
"I just feel like it's tradition here," he smirked. I thought back to the countless times he had startled me before in the old palace. He was always there for me. He had been watching and falling in love with me, learning my quirks.
"Think about something that makes you happy," I whispered, tiptoeing across the carpet to get to him. With a kick to my skirt underneath, I fell in place next to him.
He didn't ask why. He didn't refuse. His lips pushed out for a second as he thought.
Then he turned to me, his eyes that beautifully soft orange glow I could never get tired of seeing against his gray eyes. It brought so much color into the room which was what I needed. I didn't realize I was leaning forward until our noses were touching. I leaned back, tilting my head to the side.
"What are you thinking about?" I said, softly.
"The dance at Winter Solstice. The first time I heard your laugh." My heart turned to mush as I sighed. It was crazy to think that I could make someone so happy. How he could make me so happy.
"I told Bells that night I thought you were cute," I chuckled. Jaxon smiled, wrapping an arm around my waist and sliding my body to his.
"Tell me more," he said, raising his eyebrows to dance. I laughed, pretending to think.
"The first time I saw your eyes glowing I thought it was all the drugs in my body making me go crazy." His finger traced circles on my shoulder.
"When was that?"
"When I said you could carry me away into the sunset. Your eyes were orange." His finger paused on my shoulder. "The amount of love for your lands is amazing."
His eyes met mine, his breathing extremely even as he said, "It was because of the idea of running into the sunset with you."
I leaned forward, not caring where we were as I brushed my lips against his. They were just as soft as the first time we kissed, the only time. The kiss was gentle. Even in this gigantic dress, he somehow managed to bring me into his lap, my dress cascading down over me legs that hung over the side of him.
I wanted to lose myself in him.
The kiss became rough as I let my hands do what they always wanted. His hair was soft as I pushed his head closer as if he wasn't close enough. A deep growl came from the back of his throat as his hands slid down to grab my waist.
"What in the..." Jaxon's lips froze against mine. Slowly, like we were afraid to startle her, did I stand up and turn to face the queen. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over his messy hair and gray eyes she's never seen before. "Mas?" She shrieked, looking ready to faint. Instead her eyes met mine, a storm raging in them. "I told you the rules. No bodyguards and then you ran away with one? Is this why you disappeared? To be with him?" She looked back at him, pure disgust written all over her face. The anger rushed my blood, my hands shaking as I let the feeling energize me.
"Do you know who he is?" I growled.
"A bodyguard. A nobody."
"And you are somebody? Please," I scoffed. Jaxon was across the room, standing in front of the now closed door in a second. The queen's head looked like it could spin off.
"Magic? And me? How dare you talk to your mother that way!" She yelled. With a flick of my eyes, Jaxon knew I was going to do it. Like hell if I'd wait another day to ruin her.
"My mother belonged to the land of Sunsets," I said strongly, squaring my shoulders and standing as tall as I could. Her mouth plopped open, frozen in utter shock. "I belong to the land of the Sunsets. This white? Blue? Disgusting. You? Kidnapping me to overtake the entire Winter lands? Real fucked up," I took a step with every sentence towards her. My anger fueling me. "Lying to Hue like this. Destroying the only people who gave a goddamn shit about you. Letting Frosts destroy the entire castle. Letting Bells die," I growled, ready to ignore my magic altogether and grab her throat with my hands and feel her life ending. "You controlled my mind for decades. You kept me locked in that castle like a prisoner. You pushed me into the dead hands of Frosts to help yourself." I stopped right in front of her, her nose nearly three inches from mine. "And I'm going to kill you for it."
Her hands shoved into my chest, but I was standing tall as she stumbled backwards. She looked over at Jaxon, her eyes filled with confusion and hope.
"Don't look at me. I'm a nobody," he said, throwing his hands up into the air. I stepped on the hem of her ballgown, keeping her from wiggling away on the ground.
"And him?" I said, too loudly. My entire body was shaking with a new rage I felt rushing through me. The queens glossy eyes turned to look at me. "The Prince of the Sunset lands and the wrong person to insult in front of me," I hissed. Her hands were covering her face, any power she had, useless.
"I can change things. I can have our castle rebuilt. I can have you taken away from Frosts. I can-" a piercing scream filled the room. All I could feel was her racing heart as it exploded. All I could see was the color red. I could feel the pain that was rippling through her entire body. Blood pooled to the rim of her mouth before it spilled over. I watched the red travel down the pale blue gown she wore. The screaming stopped. My vision swirled back to the scene before me. All I could feel was my own heart.
I looked back up, expecting to see a terrified Jaxon. Instead, I was looking at a pleased Frosts.